As such, she fails to address the central problem of feminism in the Pontellier perspective, namely the impossibility of female individuality and independence in a patriarchal world. It is only in isolation that Edna can find any happiness, and she must make this isolation more and more complete in order to maintain her happiness, as the patriarchy has a means of encroaching on all populated areas, and Wollstonecraft's feminism does not offer an alternative to this need to escape humanity.
A final snort of disgust might be distinctly heard from Edna Pontellier upon her reading of this line of Wollstonecraft's, afterwards she might likely have flung the text aside (or into the fireplace, depending on the season): "Pleasure is the business of woman's life, according to the present modification of society" (ch. 4, par. 10). What Wollstonecraft means is that women are thought to be so fragile, so emotional, and so otherwise incompetent that they are taught to take and seek pleasure as a means of protection, and Wollstonecraft takes umbrage at the fact that this turns women into weaker and less effective individuals than they were designed to be. The idea that the life of a woman was in any way dedicated to pleasure would be roundly rejected by Edna, however, both in terms of direct and tangible pleasures -- sexual liberation, economic independence, the ability to paint or otherwise express passions without restraint -- and in terms of the larger roles and identities that women were expected to fill as a means of creating their own identities. What Wollstonecraft fails to see, possibly because it is not explicitly mentioned by the male-made arguments to which she is reacting, but what Edna would absolutely perceive underlying the guise of encouraging pleasure-seeking in women, is that it leads to the increased subservience of women. Wollstonecraft addresses only some of the surface issues important to feminism, according to this reading, and fails entirely to probe as deeply as is warranted and necessary.
Humanizing Edna
Edna Pontellier is clearly presented as a "strange" or "unnatural" woman throughout the Awakening and in much of the criticism surrounding Chopin's novel, with an apparent inhumanity that makes true compassion both for her and from her impossible (Worton, 110). Her love and affection not only for her husband but also for her children is questionable; she does not seem to bear them any malice, but her love is certainly not strong enough to instill a desire in her to be with her children or to care for them -- there is no maternal instinct whatsoever, and this is an explicit source of conflict both within Edna and between Edna and other members of her family and society throughout much of the novel (Chopin). Viewing the independent and solitary brand of feminism that Edna displays through the lens of Wollstonecraft's raises significant questions about what "progress" has been made in feminist thinking.
Wollstonecraft's entire argument is purposefully placed in the context of how women fit into society and how various social elements treat or control women, and she finds it necessary to experience and express femininity within this context. A form of feminism that attempts to deny social roles, and indeed any form of identity creation or assertion that is based on individuality rather than on interaction and social responsibility seems completely foreign to Wollstonecraft's theory and therefore problematic and paradoxical in and of itself. In this view, Edna Pontellier's internal dilemma is not simply the product of her frustration with the social roles that exist for women or even for individuals without regard to gender, but rather stems from her desire to entirely escape society, and to achieve an education or "awakening" that allows her to be separated from society with greater ease and respectability. She herself is chagrined at the early actions she takes in attempting to make a symbolic break with her current life and position:...
Feminist Reading of Austen's Persuasion "I Will Not Allow Books to Prove Anything": Women Reading and Women Writing in Austen's Persuasion Feminist criticism is equally concerned with female authorship and with female readership and in the case of Jane Austen, both issues must be addressed. Frantz in 2009 noted that on one level Austen's influence on female readership has been immense: she claims that "readers and authors of contemporary romance claim Jane Austen
As Beauvoir said, these plays tend to deal with restoring a sense of value and choice to a world that has been largely stripped of these features by modern critical, literary, and dramatic trends. Character is created with a greater sense of agency in these plays, and identity -- especially feminine identity -- ironically emerges as more of an actively created and self-determined construct through its interactions within and
(Hyde 2000:157) In an attempt to counter the male dominated body prejudice Elizabeth Blackwell began a discourse on using a one-body image, this time female, to analyse and understand the physiology of the body. Blackwell, was one of the founding feminists, an abolitionist and the first female to become a doctor in the United States. As a doctor she may most assuredly also be viewed as a feminist physiologist and
Prostitution and Feminism: Questions for a Modern Society In answer to the question of whether prostitution is just another line of work, the most comprehensive and simplest answer is to say, no, it is not. The reason for this is that there are too many complexities associated with prostitution -- not just ethical and moral issues -- but also social, legal, economic, political, safety, and theoretical issues that color the sex
Children's Literature Research The Changing Representation of Female Characters and Feminist Heroines in Children's Literature from Baum to Montgomery Introduction Once children can read, they are cast into the literature world – characters, themes, settings, and plots. Children's literature brings concepts like friendship, nature, education, discovery, religion, and the structure and operation of society so that the child feels connected to the material. Some have argued that children's literature only comes to existence
Therapeutic Models Psychodynamic & Person-Centered Therapies Psychodynamic theory and client-centered theory provide significant basis for recent therapeutic methods. Where both the therapeutic methods emphasize on improving the condition of the subject, they follow different schools of thoughts which is well-reflected in their applications as well. Since psychodynamic and client-centered therapy focuses on eliminating various aspects of past life and improving the subject's perception of self-worth in relation with present and future
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now